Broken Expectations, Perfected Destiny
by WhiteFlame-XIII
Summary: On the Day of Black Sun, Zuko is given the ultimate test once again. But what of Mai? Alt Events Fic. light Maiko. :Hiatus Over!:
1. Broken Expectations

A/N- On to more serious subjects now… since humor isn't too strong for me. My first romance/ drama fic. Bear with me. This will be a multi-chapter story.

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**Broken Expectations, Perfected Destiny**

It was the Day of Black Sun. He could barely hold off the woman full of rage throwing daggers at him. His source of strength was cut off.

It was hard to think that just a few minutes ago, they were in each other's arms, staring contently into each other's eyes…

* * *

"_Zuko" Mai stared longingly into her lover's eyes._

_Zuko stared back with the same affection "Mai... I--"_

_But he was interrupted as suddenly, Aang, Sokka, Toph, and Katara as well as the invasion force burst into the palace taking out guards by the second. The commotion was heard throughout the palace and Zuko and Mai went outside of the royal lounge to see what the matter was. _

_The Quartet invaded the dungeon where they found Iroh prepared for battle. Iroh needed no help as he simply broke through the cage bars. "It is time to realize our destiny. My brother will no longer terrorize the nation. But first, I have a stop in mind." And so the Five headed to the higher floors of the palace in search for Zuko before the Fire Lord._

_As instantly as Mai and Zuko went out, a member of the royal guard ushered the couple into Zuko's bedroom. Outside the door, a battle could be heard. It would be only a matter of time before the assailants would reveal themselves._

_The Quintet easily defeated the mob of soldiers blocking the way and proceeded to search the palace for the royal family. _

"_This is the door. I know it" Iroh stopped at the door with "Prince Zuko's room" written on it._

_Sokka sighed to himself "I wonder how he knew that"_

_When the door to his room was opened, Zuko instantly realized the danger he was in. his honor was shattered forever. Mai looked at him disdainfully._

"_The Avatar! I thought you had slain him!" Mai had her eyes drilling through him as she hissed her utter anger "What is this? Some kind of lie?"_

"_I… I…" Zuko was speechless as he saw every last bit of power he had as the prince fall out of his grasp._

_Iroh assumed a fighting stance in Zuko's direction. "Zuko! Remember who you are! You are not the bloodthirsty Fire Lord Sozin was or even Your Father! Control your own destiny!_"

_As Iroh said this, Zuko's stance fell_ _and he froze as the good part of his conscience fought for control against the part he had been dominated by for the past few weeks. He saw how his life had no sense of real meaning when he was the head of a terrorizing nation, He saw how Fire Lord Sozin was wrong in what he did, And then, he remembered his mother. _

_In a flash, he came back to reality._

"_Mai… I… I'm… sorry." Zuko walked over to the Avatar's side and turned against Mai._

_Mai couldn't believe what was happening. Zuko, the love of her life was turning against her. She couldn't just brush it away like some normal wound. It was too much._

"_Zuko! What are you doing?!? Was everything a lie? Was everything we had a lie? Was…was our love a lie?" Mai was torn in two as she saw her_ _life slipping from her grasp._

_She had thought her and Zuko's destiny was to be together and be the next fire lord and lady. She was only content when she thought of her future. But now there was no meaning to her. Her life was now full of betrayal and contempt and she hated Zuko for this._

_Her pain was turned to anger as she dwelled upon the circumstance. The look in her eyes was one of savage rage. She reached into her sleeves and pulled out her throwing daggers...

* * *

_

"You!... you dare go against everything we had?!? Do you even know what you are doing?!?" Mai continued throwing the deadly knives straight at Zuko. by now, tears were streaming down her face. Zuko could see all the pain she was in. So he began to inch closer to Mai with every side-step he took. Mai noticed this and backed up as well, but her back soon contacted the wall and Zuko only gained proximity. Mai shot daggers strategically at Zuko to back him up, but she found it hard to truly try to kill Zuko; her accuracy was dulling due to her indesicion. Zuko still gained closer.

Aang began to run toward Mai, but was held back by Iroh. "No. this is Zuko's conflict. Let him deal with it. We must press on for now." Everyone left the room leaving Zuko alone with Mai.

"Why?... why are you doing this?..." Her voice began to weaken as well as her attacks. Zuko was still ever closing in.

Zuko finally reached Mai and held her arms down. He leaned in and kissed Mai gently but passionately. Mai froze with shock. He whispered gently.

"It is because I love you."

Zuko walked past the still form of his ex-girlfriend to retrieve his broadswards and join the rest of the group. Mai called out to him.

"I… don't understand…"

Zuko simply replied.

"I'm sure you will when you realize your destiny…"

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A/N- Yeah. Worked hard on this one. The next chapter will be called perfected destiny. and then there will be an epilogue. Maybe then I'll write a sequel. Or not. It's all in reviews 


	2. Perfected Destiny Part 1

A/N- Thank you for all the nice reviews. This is the second to last timeline chapter. After this is a prologue.

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**Broken Expectations, Perfected Destiny**

_Zuko finally reached Mai and held her arms down. He leaned in and kissed Mai gently but passionately. Mai simply froze and couldn't move. He whispered gently._

"_It is because I love you."_

_Zuko walked away to join the rest of the group. Mai called out._

"_I… don't understand…"_

_Zuko simply replied._

"_I'm sure you will when you realize your destiny…" _

Mai stood motionless for what seemed an eternity, her mind trying to process everything that had happened. What was destiny? And why did it have to ruin her life time and time again? It seemed destiny had a tendency to disappoint her every time something favorable happened.

Had destiny made Zuko leave as a banished prince? Had destiny made her life miserable when her father was appointed to be governor of Omashu? Had destiny constantly fallen short of adequate for her well being during the pursuit of the Avatar? Had destiny taken Zuko again? Surely these were indisputable truths!

Yet had destiny let her become one of the most influential women in the Fire Nation? Had destiny found her acquaintance with Azula and Ty Lee? Though they did not get along all the time, surely they were friends. Had destiny brought Zuko back?

Everything was as a fallen kingdom now, but destiny had been good at times. But she didn't know what to believe anymore.

As her mind was in chaos, a thought surfaced.

"_Zuko! Remember who you are! You are not the bloodthirsty Fire Lord Sozin was or even Your Father! Control your own destiny!_"

"_Control your own destiny!_"

Destiny was not absolute and never should have been as Zuko had defied it many times while given the opportunity. It was so pointless to do nothing as she experienced what happened as what destiny had "chosen". It was time to take the reins of her life. Destiny was no longer going to dominate everything she held dear.

So with a deep breath, she collected her emotions and proceeded to collect the knives scattered on the ground.

"_It is because I love you."

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_

Zuko raced through the many corridors in search of the Avatar's group. His heart hoped that Mai was coping well with how he left her as he ran. The pain on her face was so utterly visible that it killed him to leave her in that state, so he decided that when this was over, he would reconcile with Mai. But right now, his priority was the Avatar, as only Zuko knew how to defeat Ozai.

He reached the throne room in time as the Avatar did, but he wasn't seen. Unnoticed, he decided to lurk in the shadows until the right moment, the fundamental Earth jing. And so he heard Aang's proclamation of dominance firsthand.

"Fire Lord Ozai! The time has come for this war to be over!" Aang spoke boldly to the man behind the flames.

The one behind the flames simply sat still and silent.

Aang tried again "You have no chance anymore. Surrender now!"

Still, the man behind the flames said nothing at all.

Zuko was as puzzled as Aang was. _Why isn't my father doing anything?_ He simply sat there, unwavering.

He soon saw why- A movement was seen from behind the curtain as a shadow slipped away. A Yuu Yan archer was aiming straight for Aang's head, but no one was aware of the man in the shadows except Zuko.

"Ozai! Answer me! You are powerless against us! Stop this useless war!" Aang was furious at this point.

All that happened behind the flames was a near invisible flick of the wrist and the Yuu Yan archer let loose the arrow on his bow.

"No!" Zuko rushed forward, but realized that it was too late. Aang turned around in time to see the arrow…

_-clang-_

…miss his head by at least 5 feet. Everyone turned to see Zuko standing speechless as Mai also walked in with her arm outstretched. She quickly disabled the Yuu Yan archer with a quick movement and then faced Zuko. She opened her mouth to speak.

"Mai… you're… here…" Zuko was well beyond surprise as he interjected.

Mai solemnly replied back "It is my destiny…"

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A/N- I felt lazy so I made it 2 part. I ended the chapter with the same word as last time. Next is part 2 of Perfected Destiny. 


	3. Perfected Destiny Part 2

A/N- Nice. I'm back. I'm going to finish this once and for all. Also, check out my new story called Red Eyes. It's another alt events fic, but it has an OC. Trust me, it's much better than an average Mary Sue story

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**Broken Expectations, Perfected Destiny**

"_No!" Zuko rushed forward, but realized that it was too late. Aang turned around in time to see the arrow… _

_-clang-_

…_miss his head by at least 5 feet. Everyone turned to see Zuko standing there speechless as Mai also walked in with her arm outstretched. She quickly disabled the Yuu Yan archer with a quick movement and then faced Zuko. She opened her mouth to speak but Zuko quickly interjected._

"_Mai… you're… here…" Zuko was well beyond surprise._

"_It is my destiny"__

* * *

_

"This is it!"

Wasting no time, Aang charged at Ozai, leaving the rest of the group to watch the battle between the two. It would be a fair, unfair match: Aang was against Ozai alone, who had no way to defend himself. Ozai showed no signs of retreat. He simply stepped into a fighting stance and looked at the Avatar in a menacing smirk, similar to Azula's. The thing that no one knew, however, was that this was the signal.

A shower of arrows flew straight toward the aimlessly standing group. Yuu Yan archers lined up along the edges of the throne room, while a barrage of weapon-wielding soldiers charged forward at them. The group formed a circle against the sea of enemies and proceeded to return the attacks they received. The fog of war clouded both sides of the fight, but the advantage was clearly on the side of the Avatar. Arrows whizzed overhead as the Avatar and company fended off the unusually strong soldiers at hand to hand combat. With bending, Aang, Toph, and Katara had no problem against the soldiers and archers. However, for Zuko, Sokka, Iroh, and Mai, it was not so simple.

A soldier, wielding a large horse knife, charged at Mai. Throwing a few needles at him, Mai intended to paralyze him. Managing to sidestep the needles enough for them to miss any vital sections of his body, he raised his weapon to cleave Mai in two. Mai cowered in fear of the inevitable doom that was to befall her, but the soldier dropped his horse knife as a sword burst out of his chest, blood streaming out like a river. Zuko pulled out his sword out of the man, and began to fight off another soldier. A sick feeling rose in Mai; she had not seen such a violent death in her life. Lurching forward, she emptied her stomach on an unlucky soldier, who in turn tried to stab Mai with his spear. _That_ soldier was not any more fortunate than the one with the horse knife, as Iroh brutally slammed his fist into the man's chest. The man fell back coughing up blood from the crushing impact to his heart. Mai felt scared for the first time in a long time, as she witnessed the utter annihilation of many human lives. She had never actually seen anybody killed so inhumanely. The shock rendered her paralyzed, but no one saw her condition- no one except for a sharp eyed Yuu Yan Archer.

Three arrows flew in one second, three arrows made contact, and one person fell. The archer grinned ever so slightly, but was cut short as a rather large boulder crushed his head against a wall.

It was silent to Mai. See could see everything happening, but no sound reached her ears. She was falling in slow motion to the ground, her vision slowly fading out. Everything soon became black.

Zuko turned to check on Mai, his ignorance in his confident disposition in Mai's skills. Horror grasped him, as he saw Mai on the ground, a small pool of blood dripping out of her side.

"No!"

Zuko rushed to Mai and fell to ground, mind consumed by pain and emotion. This was his love, dying slowly in the field of battle, just as she had seen the light.

Zuko looked up. His eyes flashed a rage beyond humanity, a rage beyond any level of hatred. He shouted violently as the sun slowly unmasked itself from the moon, and a flame of the deepest black burst from the earth. No soldier in the throne room was spared from the hell flame that Zuko had summoned.

This time, Ozai was the one cowering in fear as everyone took a stance against the fire lord. With a terrified glance at Zuko, he surrendered the throne. Soon after, Azula and Ty Lee were captured as well.

* * *

However, The fight was not over as Mai was still in critical condition. The pool of blood grew slightly larger since Zuko had destroyed the Fire Nation Army, and there was less color in her face. Katara rushed over to Mai and checked her wounds with water, pulling out the arrows, but it was too late. Mai was dead.

Zuko held Mai close to him. "Why?... Why do you have to die?" Tears streamed down his face as he cried over his fallen beloved. Slowly, they floated down to grace Mai's peaceful appearance, lightly landing with

But a strange thing happened that day. The tears began to glow, bringing Mai's face to match the luminous hue. A gasp for breath came from Mai. She was not dead anymore.

"I know my destiny too, Zuko."

Zuko broke down in tears. Tears of joy.

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A/N- Yeah! Bloody fight scenes, apocalyptic destruction, and re-animation. Very light subjects indeed. Well one more chapter left: epilogue/ set-up for sequel. 


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